Munroe was an extraordinary Canadian

Jack Munroe first saw the light of day in 1875 on a farm at Kempt Head, a few miles from Boularderie.

When he was 12 he left Cape Breton with two of his brothers to seek their fortunes in mining in Nevada and Montana.

Munroe was an extraordinary Canadian. Yet little has been written about his exploits.

He was a prospector, a hard-driving running back on a championship football team in the highly competitive western U.S. high school conference, a professional star in football-mad Montana, a professional boxer and wrestler, a First World War hero, a poet, a gifted author and the reeve (mayor) of boom town Elk Lake in northern Ontario.

Munroe may have been the very first Canadian soldier to set foot on French soil in the First World War. Before the gangplank could be fully deployed, he jumped from the deck onto French soil.

On Dec. 20, 1902, in Butte, Mont., Munroe defeated world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries in a four-round bout. Munroe gave as good as he took for three rounds and then decked the champion for a nine count in the fourth round. In February 1904, he gave top-ranked heavyweight contender Tom Sharkey a fierce beating in a six-round match in Philadelphia.

Munroe had 20 major fights and won nine by knockouts. He lost only three fights.

When Munroe was in Mexico City he met Bobbie Burns, a stray collie dog that adopted him. They bonded and became inseparable. Munroe told friends that Bobbie Burns was Highland royalty in another incarnation.

Bobbie Burns was with Munroe when he enlisted in the newly formed Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Bobbie Burns enlisted, too. Princess Patricia was the daughter of Canada's governor general, the Duke of Connaught, Queen Victoria's youngest son. The princess proclaimed Bobbie regimental mascot and presented him with a jewelled collar inscribed: "Bobbie Burns PPCLI."

Munroe and Bobbie were buddies. The collie was smuggled on trains, carried on a troop ship in a gunny sack, slipped past England's animal quarantine and followed Munroe to the Western Front in the Second Battle of Ypres.

After the war, Munroe told his mining buddies that Bobbie Burns went out with him on recce (reconnaissance) missions. Although Bobbie was a collie, he had the instincts of a pointer. When he spotted an enemy soldier his body went rigid and his tail would stand straight out.

On June 16, 1916, a German sniper picked Munroe off. The round exited close to his spinal column. Arterial blood spurted out until one of Munroe's comrades stuck his finger in the bullet hole. Munroe was invalided to the Royal Victoria Hospital, 70 miles from London. The hospital commandant posted an order that Bobbie Burns be permitted to stay at Munroe's bedside and have the run of the hospital.

Queen Mother Alexandra, widow of King Edward VII, visited the wounded. Munroe noted in his 1918 book "Mopping Up" that the Queen Mother met Bobbie and had kind words for him.

In 1923, he married Lina Crane, a Toronto concert soprano 10 years Munroe's junior.

Once, Munroe was prospecting in a remote region and caught a train at a lonely station. He took it for granted Bobbie was under his seat. But Bobbie had missed the train. Munroe believed he had seen the last of Bobbie. The train carried Munroe to Porcupine, Ont. — 200 miles away. Ten days later, Bobbie trotted into Porcupine after covering some very rough, unbroken country.

Munroe and Bobbie went to Nova Scotia to visit Munroe's ailing mother and family. Their next stop was northern Ontario to claim their fortune in gold and silver prospecting. Munroe had become wealthy selling claims, but wisely kept a small percentage interest, which he parlayed into hotels and commercial realty.

One black day in 1919, Bobbie Burns didn't meet Munroe's train. Munroe reasoned 16-year-old Bobbie knew his time had come and crawled into the woods to die. Munroe mourned for Bobbie but could never bring himself to replace him with another pet.

Munroe is immortalized in "The Ballad of Jack Munroe," an anonymous piece of war poetry that was published in 1918. He was inducted into the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame and is an original member of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Glace Bay-born Pat MacAdam has been a fly on the wall in national politics for half a century. He served as a spear carrier for prime ministers John Diefenbaker and Brian Mulroney, and as press officer at Canada's High Commission in London. He's in Ottawa (Bytown) now and can be reached at eyeopener_gatsby@rogers.com.